Cubs Sign Brett Anderson

4:10pm: FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that Anderson will earn $500K for in his 11th start; $750K for his 14th and 17th starts; $1MM for starts 20, 23 and 26; and $1.5MM for reaching 29 starts.

3:50pm: The Cubs on Thursday formally added another arm to their rotation mix, announcing a one-year contract with left-hander Brett Anderson. The contract reportedly guarantees the oft-injured Anderson a relatively modest $3.5MM but has incentives that can boost its value to $10MM. Anderson is represented by the Legacy Agency.

Anderson, who’ll turn 29 on Feb. 1, made just four major league starts last year after missing the bulk of the season due to back surgery. He had accepted the Dodgers’ one-year, $15.8MM qualifying offer over the winter, but went down during Spring Training. Though it’s promising that Anderson was able to work back to the hill, he was roughed up in limited action.

That said, Chicago liked what it saw in a recent look at the southpaw per Rosenthal’s report, and perhaps can look to utilize him the same way they had intended with Tyson Ross — who was hotly pursued before signing with the Rangers. Both pitchers are looking to return to health and reestablish their trajectories.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Anderson seemed to have turned a corner. When he joined the Dodgers before the 2015 season, he hadn’t surpassed 100 innings in a single year since 2010. However, he went on to provide Los Angeles with 180 1/3 innings of 3.69 ERA ball with 5.8 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9, leading to the qualifying offer.

That sort of output likely represents the upside scenario for the Cubs, who have been looking to bolster their rotation depth. As things stand, Anderson and fellow lefty Mike Montgomery could battle it out for the fifth starter’s job, with the other perhaps heading to the pen for long relief and spot start duties.

The Cubs have also expressed interest in using a sixth starter more frequently as the season wears on, and that type of arrangement could help to keep Anderson healthy while also limiting the innings of fellow starters Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks and John Lackey, each of whom is coming off a significant workload thanks to the Cubs’ World Series run in 2016.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the agreement (Twitterlinks). Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported the terms of the deal (via Twitter). ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted that Anderson had passed his physical.

Theo loves his retreads. And he’s not going to over pay for starting pitching either. Hammel may or may not be the better option but maddon dosent like him. Look for massive upgrades in pitching next year.

I HOPE he can stay healthy and repeat his 180 IP season he had with the Dodgers. I think the Cubs are better, at least now, with Monty in the pen. They are a little light on LH in the pen. Perhaps Anderson ends up being that guy to limit his workload. Either way, another good, depth signing for the Cubs. No risk at all.

Hahaha, come on man. If you’re gonna troll, at least try and be good at it, at least somewhat clever. If Andersen doesn’t throw a single ML pitch this year, the Cubs still win the division by 10 games, easily. A no risk depth move, nothing more… nothing less.

They are the best team on paper in their division…I’m not sure anyone could argue otherwise after last season and this off-season. However, they got *extremely* lucky in regard to injuries last year, as their starting 5 all pitched full seasons. I don’t see that happening again this year, so I’m not sure they’ll win the division easily by 10 games.

Sure, but he’s very young and now with a team that has “fixed” a number of pitchers. By your standards, the Cubs should’ve turned Arrieta into a Closer when they acquired him because he absolutely sucked as a Starter in Baltimore.

The Cubs 40-man roster currently stands at 39. It will be 40 when Brett Anderson is “officially” added. If the Cubs add another MLB contract like Travis Wood, the most likely candidate to be placed on waivers would probably be this offseasons king of the wire…David Rollins. The southpaw pitcher has already been placed on waivers and claimed 5 times from November 18th through December 23th, including being claimed twice by the Cubs. lol

This is another depth move, nothing more… nothing less. Some of you are acting like the Cubs are relying on him to be a TOR starter. He’ll probably get a minor league deal with an invite to ST. Whatever he gives is a bonus. This team is still stacked, the bullpen is stacked, the top 4 of the rotation is great. You never use a 5th starter in the playoffs, rarely even your 4th. The Cubs will once again win the division by 15 games. Another nice move, no risk at all.

Either way, it’s not risking anymore than a spot on the 40 man. Some of these posts suggest the Cubs NEED him to compete this year. And “no chance” they win the division by 15 next year? They won by 17 last year with no Schwarber and essentially NOTHING offensively from Heyward. These kids still haven’t peaked yet, they’ll only get better. So, yeah, I’m pretty comfortable with my 15 projection.

Not sure you understand what peaking means. Players peak real early nowadays. Mike Trout peaked after his rookie year… that doesn’t mean Bryant is getting worse, it means he won’t get better than he was last year. If you think Bryant ever puts up more than 8.4 fWAR again I’d love to hear why.

Bryant has peaked after two years in the majors? Really? Haha… what about Russell? Baez? Contreras? A full season of Schwarber? Did they all peak? Haha… yep, I will definitely take that bet. The Pirates are trying to unload Cutch, they are not improving. The Cards are a year older, Fowler(who’s on the wrong side of 30) isn’t enough to close the gap. Come on, man. No one that actually follows baseball is worried about the Cubs winning the division comfortably. Most of us will just be watching the Nats and Dodgers sweating whether or not the Cubs get homefield throughout, no one is sweating the division. Not even sort of.

You also must not know what peaking means. It means he won’t get better, he will probably provide similar production to what he did last year for the next yew years. The other young guys have not peaked but Zobrist is a year older, the pitching staff will be hard pressed to stay as healthy as they were last year and they lose Fowler. Pirates aren’t trying to trade Cutch anymore and when they were it was for MLB ready talent. They have also been heavily connected to Quintana and other top pitchers on the trade market. The Cardinals also add a full year of Alex Reyes who is possibly the best young pitcher in baseball plus get Lynn back. I never said the Cubs wouldn’t win the division comfortably but I’d guess around 6-8 games. Stop being a stuck up Cubs fan and educate yourself on the other good teams in the division.

I know exactly what “peaking” means. And I asked you, once again, what makes you think he’s “peaked” when he dramatically improved from Season 1 to Season 2? You can’t predict a player’s peak until their stats start to plateau, and that has not happened yet for Bryant.

You can’t just say he’s peaked because you “think” he won’t get better despite all of his stats having increased.

Well I base it on similar young players peaking early, plus the fact he’s projected for a mere 5.5 fWAR by steamer when he put up 8.4 last year…. his bat might slowly continue to improve but that will be offset by declining defense and base running. It has nothing to do with what I “think” it has to do with my knowledge about baseball.

Trout did peak after his rookie year. He was worth over 10 fWAR that year and has been below 10 every year since his second year. Do people here not understand the meaning of peaking? It doesn’t mean he’s about to start declining it means he will not improve. Which Trout has not. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s the best player in the MLB.

So you think Bryant will produce more than 8.4 fWAR in a season going forward? Care to place a bet on that? Funny how you ignore the fact that he’s projected for 5.5 fWAR this year. Just don’t respond to any of the logical arguments I made.

His defense will likely decline because he put up ridiculous numbers in his time in the of last year which he’s likely to get less reps at this year and when he does, would be hard pressed to repeat what he did last year.

9.4 according to Fangraphs. You can continue to ignore the point I’m making all you want. The truth is Trout hasn’t been, or likely never will be, better than his rookie season. That takes nothing away from Trout, it just means he’s peaked.

Hahaha rols1026, apparently WE all know what “peak” means and YOU don’t. It’s not a hard word to decipher. Pretty simple actually, like a mountain top… or peak, it means there is nothing ascend to. Either stay where you are or descend, Bryant will do neither of those. His skill set, work ethic, desire to continue to improve, age, history ALL suggests very strongly that he has not peaked. Neither has Russell, Scwarber, Baez, Almora or Contreras. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rizzo continued to improve.

Are you even capable of using actual evidence instead of typical fanboy cliches? If you don’t think he’s peaked it means that you think Bryant will outproduce his 8.4 fWAR in the future. Yet he’s projected for 5.5 fWAR next year. But I’m the idiot…

Sure, if you wanna be exact you could say Trout peaked his second season. I’m just not counting 10.3-10.5 as much of a difference. That was also when he was 3 years younger than Bryant and much more athletic. Funny how people just want to ignore facts nowadays. (not talking to you Chester I’ve seen you make many valid points on this site. These other two trolls need to learn to research before insulting people, however.)

While I agree that Bryant probably will not out produce that, using his projections aren’t a great method to show it due to the fact that he’s had such a limited amount of mlb abs that the projections don’t really have enough information to go on. I think it’s pretty rare for them to ever project anyone not named trout for more than about 6

Well they also use minor league numbers and historical comps it not all based on Bryant’s two seasons of stats. They’re way more accurate than any human could ever be. Of course, they regress stronger than they probably should do to players in the past having career years, but I think somewhere in the 6-7 fWAR range is a fair projection for Bryant. The Fans projections at Fangraphs, which are much more lenient towards the player, have Bryant at 7.7.

I know, its just really frustrating to see Cub’s fans get an awful reputation because of trolls like those guys. I’m a Cubs “fan” but its even hard to consider myself that anymore because I think logically instead of with a fanboy mindset.

Thats not even close to what I am saying. I am saying that he will never outproduce his 8.4 fWAR from last year. He is currently projected between 5-6 fWAR by computers and 7.7 from Fangraphs fan polling for this coming season. Mike Trout, for example, peaked after his first two seasons, and was younger than Bryant at the time by 2 years. Bryant peaking at 25 is not only reasonable, it is likely.

Look… none of us have a crystal ball, so saying that Bryant will *never* outproduce some measure of WAR is a weak argument to begin with, but even then, comparing him to Mike Trout is unjustified because the two are very different players. Personally, I think there’s some regression to his batting average, and maybe his natural level is in the ~.270 range, but Bryant could bat .310 next year, hit 50 HRs and drive in 130. It’s not terribly absurd.

That’s a joke right? How in the blue hell did Bryant peak he’s nowhere near peaked. If anyone has peaked is former cubs SS Starlin Castro. He will not be any better than he is right now. and he’s on;y a year older than Bryant. Everyone knows when Glayber Torres is ready Castro is done. He’ll probably be with his 4th or 5th team by the time Torres is playing SS every day Didi Gregoruis done too when Torres is called. ip

Not absurd at all the Cubs infield alone can easily produce over a 100HRs plus they have Contreas and Schwarber that’s another 60 HRs Ben Zobrist with 15-20. Heyward with 15-20. Almora Jr. 15-20. Montero 10-15 (depending on playing time. Bryzzo will have 95hrs 220+ rbi hit around .300. Not out of the question at all. Bryzzo is probably the best 3-4 combo in the last 40 years.

Schwarber sucks and will never be what you want him to be. He is the Chicago version of Matt Adams. And Heyward will also never produce… That dude got his paycheck and is laughing all the way to the bank. Enjoy that world series high while it lasts because it won’t be happening again anytime soon. Win the division by 20 games…What a joke.

How doe schwarber suck? Heyward had one bad season he’ll pounce back. Never said they’d win the nl central by 20 games. They could easily win another 3 or 4 titles in the next 10 years. They are so stacked with guys under 27 years old. They are built to win for a long long time.

Trout’s fWAR was at it’s highest in 2013 because of defensive metrics. Trout played more innings in LF in 2013 than any other year in his career, whereas in 2016, he spent all of his time in CF.

LF is a much easier position to play than CF, and so when you add his positive LF numbers to his league-average CF rating for 2013, his overall defensive metrics for 2013 end up much higher than his 2016 numbers, where he only played CF.

In fact, his offensive rating for 2016 according to Fangraphs were better than his 2013 numbers, where you said he peaked.

His base running was down slightly over 2013.

And Trout did not PEAK. Pitchers have much more detailed scouting reports. They have seen him consistently now.

He has ADAPTED his game. He is a much better player now than he was in 2013.

Metrics, especially WAR are great. They are there to paint a picture. They are never to be taken at face value. Never.

Have peaked? lolol. Dude, I don’t know what you’re smoking, but that must be some goooooood stuff. Bryant and Rizzo are just getting started. They have a solid decade of dominance left. And as long as Theo is the team president, they’ll be dominant long after that. It’s a Cubs division from her on out. Theo and Co. are too skilled and smart.

There’s a chance the cubs win the divison by 15 games, but it’s in no way likely. as a fan base we seem to be overconfident in our clubs abilities, not to say that we’ll miss the playoffs, but it’s a long season, and it’s always possible that everything breaks the wrong way.

That’s just it JCurrie “EVERYTHING” would have to break down. They lost Schwarber, got NOTHING offensively from Heyward and still won the division by 17.5 games. This Anderson is just depth, if someone gets hurt or Monty wets himself in the rotation. This team is too deep, too young, too talented and NOW playoff and World Series tested. Nothing the Cards or Pirates have done makes me worry in the slightest. As far as Maddon is concerned, the National League is now the Central division, meaning the only drama in the regular season will be resting his guys but still competing for the best record to secure home field. You don’t consider going to a 6 man rotation when you think you’re gonna be fighting for a division and/or wild card spot. This is not a vital, do or die signing.

The Cubs like all teams in baseball have flaws. If there bats go cold there pitching was there to pick them up, and vice versa. Arrieta I expect to pitch well in his walk year. Lester should be his usual self. I’m not a lackey fan, and am interested to see Hendricks coming off that excellent season. There rotation and bullpen will likely be where the Cubs can be exposed the most. No leadoff hitter, ability to stay healthy can be said of any team, and will maddon make the right decisions.

1. Schwarber is not proven. He potentially has a great bat, but to assume he’ll be able to stay healthy and produce is just that…an assumption. He has no position in the field w/o being the worst fielder in the NL. He could be a monster…as a DH for another team.

2. The Cubs were EXTREMELY lucky that their starters stayed healthy for the entire year. Look at their games started..it is very rare in modern baseball (1990s and on) to have an intact starting 5:
Lester…..32 games
Arrieta….31 games
Hendricks…31 games
Hammel….30 games
Lackey….29 games.

Good luck to them to replicate that….AND the pitching lines again, which were also better than projected.

3. I actually agree with you about the Cards and Pirates. The Cubs need to worry about WAS, NYM, SF, and LAD. The Cubs have a stacked lineup, but each one of those teams have multiple guys on each staff that can shut them down. The Mets have 4, WAS has at least 3, LAD has 2 maybe 3, and SF has MadBum…one of the greatest playoff pitchers in the history of baseball. SF has already shown that one pitcher can take over a series.

4. I wouldn’t bet on Jason Heyward magically bouncing back, as he is the king of why WAR is a flawed stat.

That’s fair….particularly since we as Met fans are worried about too many health ?’s….lol. I am hopeful that having depth (and keeping it) by adding in Wheeler / Gsellman / Lugo to the mix will help stabilize any bumps in the road in regard to injuries. Counting on Wheeler is tentative at best, though I’m hoping Spring Training will hell assuage some concerns.

Cubs don’t need to worry about the giants. Its an odd year. They’ll finish 3rd. L.A. will win the NL West by 7 games.
Wash is gonna but outside of Harper and Zimmerman they don’t have a great offense. Daniel Murphy will never repeat his numbers. He’s a one and done type of player. Kinda like cody Ross or Marco scutaro they had one hot playoff series and for some reason the dbacks gave Ross 25 mil dollars.
Strasburg is always a question of health.

The Mets have more than “zero offense besides cespedes.” Walker (6th), Cabrerra (8th), Granderson (2nd) in WAR by position for the NL. It’s not a great lineup, but anything middle of the pack is fine bc their BP and SP should be solid. Hopefully Wright can contribute….something. Conforto/Bruce/Travis d’ all need to bounce back or they will be playing a lot of 2-1 or 3-2 type games.

Not only another year of experience, but playoff and World Series experience. This team is better, deeper than the team going into spring training last year. Heyward can only bounce back to his career norms, he can’t be worse. They still have the prospects to add at the deadline if needed. You can’t fake it for 162 games in baseball. There is a reason why those that get paid for their opinion pick this team to do it again. Winning the division isn’t even sort of on my list of concerns.

I think 10 is safe, 20 is a little ambitious. I’d comfortably set the over/under at 15. All things considered, especially the other teams in the division, their should be no drama in the central by the first week of September. Without Schwarber and a career low, way low Heyward offensively, they still won by 17.5 last year. They are a better team heading into spring training this year than they were last year.

They had ridiculous health in their rotation. The chances of that continuing aren’t great. Pitchers tend to just break.

Fowler supplied almost 5 wins that they will have to make up. Even if Heyward does rebound, that difference right there would bring it to an even level. Then you have Bryant unlikely to repeat an 8.5 win season.

Add that to a cards team that should probably be healthier and has improved and you change the picture a lot.

Using what happened last year to predict this year is a fool’s errand because of how much randomness and sequencing affect at team’s record.

I’ve been a Cub fan for longer, much longer than I care to remember. I agree that fans(really of any team) tend to overvalue their club, on the flip side, I think analysts(i.e. Fangraphs) tend to overcompensate the other way as to not look biased or come off as a homer drinking the Kool Aid. Most of these kids simply have not peaked and I would include Bryant in that. I fully recognize his WAR over his 1st two years is amazing, in fact, its historic. While it will be damn near impossible to maintain that pace for the next 5/6 years or so, to say he’s definitely peaked is premature. He has areas that he himself recognizes that he’ll focus on improving, just like he did after his rookie season. The Cards are a year older, still on the decline. Fowler helps close the gap, but not enough to make up for 17.5 games, not even close. All things considered, in my opinion they easily win the division again. I think 20 games is highly ambitious, 10 is safe and modest, 15 seems right to me. I guess we’ll see in October.

Do you read fangraphs? They’ve done nothing but praise the cubs for the last 18 or so months. They have been projected to be the best team in baseball both in 2016 and now 2017 (this may change after forscythe) and numerous (if not all) writers mention them as the best team in baseball this coming season.

A team simply getting older doesn’t mean they are for sure going to get worse. You are not accounting for down years and injuries that they suffered last year. And again, using 2016 as a basis for what will happen in 2017 is not a great idea because of things like injury, roster changes, schedule change, randomness, sequencing, etc.

I do read Fangraphs and Prospectus religiously. Everyone with a pen and keyboard loves the Cubs. However, they do project modestly for the reasons I eluded to earlier. They have the pressure of accountability, fans do not. Although, as I mentioned, 20 games is highly ambitious, all things considered 10-15 is realistic, very realistic in my opinion. As I said earlier, I see Joe managing this season as if the entire NL is the division, meaning he’ll be keeping an eye on Wash and LA to secure homefield. I feel the division will be decided by the first week of Sept. thus the rumors that Joe is toying with the idea of a 6 man rotation. Teams that plan on being in a fight for the division or wild card aren’t thinking about 6 man rotations before spring training even starts. In my opinion, that’s all it is… an opinion, the Cubs are too deep, young and talented. PIT and STL have not done enough to close the gap. Rebound seasons, players gravitating to their career norms etc… works both ways. STL might be better, but having a full season of Scwarber, Heyward back to his career norms, these kids continuing to develop after another post season run, tells me that they won’t slip much, if at all, from the team that won the division by 17.5 games.

As for stymeedone’s, “Way to keep things real,” that was the point of my comment. CLEARLY it was sarcasm, despite what some Cubs fans may actually believe based on what I’ve read on this thread. Anyone that projects the Cubs to win the division by 20 games hasn’t seen enough baseball in their lives. Could it happen? Sure. Is it likely to happen? NO.

This is a good pick up for the Cubs, if he can stay healthy. The gamble paid off for my Dodgers his first year but the second year it was right back to his injury prone ways. Hope you guys get lucky and get what we got the first year. I just know we couldn’t take that chance again.

SoCal, this is a no risk flyer. Whatever he does is a bonus. Depth. You make it sound like we’re relying on him to be a TOR starter and carry us to glory. We didn’t give him the QO, that was your Dodgers that did that. I’d be bitter too if my team paid some clown 17 mil for 11 innings. The Cubs aren’t paying him anywhere near that. No need to troll here, you got yours in the NLCS. Go play with the Giants fans.

Anderson is the poorest athlete I have seen pitch for the Dodgers in the 50+ years I have followed the team. The man turns his ankle walking to the mound. His fastball is 7-8 mph slower than when the LAD took a flyer on him three years ago. We gambled giving him a QO last year and lost. Good riddance.

He had three starts and threw a total of 11 innings in 2016. I don’t consider a velocity he took out there last year to be relevant as he did not establish a valid comparison. I was referring to his 2015 velocity in comparison to what he was throwing in Oakland.

I certainly acknowledge that my first post was poorly written and was imprecise on the years I was referencing.

Bottom line: He is far, far from the pitcher we saw in Oakland and his injury history, age, combined with his diminished velocity, swing/miss%, command and K/IP in 2015, even when he was relatively healthy, suggest that he is a poor investment; particularly for a team that wants a better than league average performance from their #5 starter. Montgomery is a far superior option. I do understand that the Cubs lack SP depth going into ST. For their sake, I hope Anderson is just the beginning in terms of creating options.

Being a Cub fan since the the early 90s, in the midst of Harry, Ryno and WGN (also living in Atlanta during the Braves peak). I’ve never worried about people thinking I’m not a true fan, because who in their right mind would root for them? But now that they’ve won it all, I feel like “one of them” when talking to people from Chicago. Would maybe be different if I lived closer. Maybe it’s just in my head.

As a Dodger fan not sad to see Anderson go.I think one reason he’s always hurt is because he is so unathletic. He’s liable to pull a hammy or groin just fielding a ground ball.At least Cubs aren’t paying a lot of guaranteed money and have incentive clauses.Follow him on social media but don’t rely on him pitching a full season.John

“If Healthy” is something that has always followed this guy. However I think that “If healthy” he can have even better number than his rookie or 2015 season. An extreme groundball pitcher and defensively-talented infield like the cubs will go well together. Russel and Baez up the middle might be the best keystone combo defensively today.
Anderson can get injured again and the Cubs can swallow that pill but the size might be a bit bigger than we think….

Look the Cubs have amazing upside (2001 Mariners) and yet like every team they have a floor and you can’t tell what will happen. Like Schwarber’s horrific injury after all the Babe Ruth comparisons you can’t make “sure predictions”. I acknowledge that the Cubs have impressed and have an amazing core right now, you just can’t tell what will happen. Every team has a chance, every player his moment, and anything can happen. That’s why we love baseball. I hope the bickering can calm down a bit.

It’s too bad the Cubs and White Sox continue their reluctance to deal with one another. Jose Quintana would be the perfect short and long term addition on the North Side with his production, durability, relatively cheap 4 years of control and the fact that he’s a southpaw which would add more balance to their rotation. Aside from throwing left-handed, Brett Anderson can’t match any of Quintana’s other advantages.

The Cubs seem content to pursue risky candidates like Tyson Ross and Anderson when the perfect solution to their rotation depth pitches on the other side of town. Sure, ‘Q’ would cost them some elite young talent, but I believe that a deal could be struck with prospects such as 2B/OF Ian Happ, RF Eloy Jiminez and 3B Jeimer Candelario who are all blocked by players on the Cubs active roster in the short and long term. WTF!

If the Cubs don’t want to fork up talent for a quality starting pitcher like “Q”, Chris Archer or Sonny Gray this offseason they should have just re-signed Travis Wood or picked up Jason Hammels 2017 contract option. This b.s. of trying to sign huge injury risk SP’s for a rotation with no depth and probably less next year is ludicrous.

How would the signing of Tyson Ross or Brett Anderson provide depth or insurance for their staff? With questionable health, they’re not a very good insurance policy at all. Even with some concern regarding Hammel’s arm down the stretch, it doesn’t compare to the seriousness of Ross’ injury or with the chronic back problems of Anderson. Meanwhile, Wood is a known commodity to the Cubs. At worst he is an effective long reliever/spot starter, has proven to be a reliable mid-late inning lefty or can potentially be a decent 5th starter….plus he can pinch-hit and run the bases well!

My prediction for Mr. Anderson: After a hot start and strong performance, there will no doubt Cy Young talk. Then his arm will literally fall off. Of his body. Granted, the “hot start” is to his first game, and the CY talk is from a few drunk CHC die hards watching from home.
But his arm will fall off though. Right off of his body.

Anderson was already injury prone prior to 2015. Back problems shelved him for 90% of 2016. The likelihood of any player being reliable following back surgery is remote. I hope he’s healthy, but his history dampens that hope considerably.

I obviously dont believe Cubs win by 20 games but seeing they won’t even make playoffs come on. We can’t predict injuries. Anderson could be a stud or dud. For 3.5 mil it’s a safe signing . His history he is very risky but to predict cub players who haven’t been injured will get injured is crazy . Cubs healthy vs cards healthy Cubs are the better team and should win the division. Hope it is cards vs Cubs in nlcs. Would be fun. This signing shouldn’t decide if Cubs repeat or not. Hope he pitches well for my team. Go Cubs!

Reading through half the comments on here makes me realize just how many “Cubs fans” just started watching baseball in October. I understand some might not be aware of who Anderson is and what kind of potential he offers for such a low price, but most of these comments are completely ignorant to what kind of team the Cubs have. I can’t stand the Cubs or there fans, the real ones, but at least I can appreciate how good of a team they’ve put together and what a healthy Brett Anderson can give to them.

It’s funny how every teams fans said the Cubs are overrated then the Cubs are gonna choke and now I hate Cubs fans. Did any of you ever ask yourself what it must feel like to be let down over and over again when your actually good? Oh wait you did in a classless manner. You now have to taste the crow you asked for. The Cubs have a team that makes up for everything that’s happened in the past with a future as bright as any organization. All of you talked all that crap every year and now you can’t handle the truth. You made your bed now you have to lay in it.

Some have gone over the top. Being positive a team is going to win a division by 20 games? Anyone who watched baseball before 2015 would know how difficult it is to win your division by 15 games let alone 20. Especially with two other decent teams in you division.

There is nothing wrong with being happy that the team you root for won. Especially if you actually followed the team during the times they were bad and weren’t just a “fan”. But. it’s just as annoying to other people to see insane overly homer comments, like “they will easily win by 20”.

We choose him I know Hammel would cost a little more but that’s why we let it him go not worth 10mil but way better than 7 mill and talent than we we just made the old man from St. Louis are 4th guy now

I agree there’s no need for fans to act like a ham so Im not going to voice my opinion on how good I believe we are. The difference is goat masks and ppl dressing like Steve Bartman in post season games. You don’t realize how sick and tired of that we were. The spin zone of it all would have come 10 fold in 2017 if the Cubs “choked” in 2016. Thank god we didn’t.

As far as bandwagon fans go when I go to games at wrigley (I haven’t lived there since I was 9) I can’t even get a cab ride without my driver testing me. Even though Cubs fans are vocal right now (all winning teams are) no one hates bandwagon fans more than us.

I am a cubs fan that has followed them closely for a while. Living right outside the city, it has gotten annoying how many “fans” there are. When people start making ridiculous claims that people who actually pay attention to baseball would realize are crazy it is just as annoying as trolls. For example, look at the crazy posts from braves fans on this site. It’s incredibly annoying. I can only imagine that people talking about how the cubs are going to win by 20 is equally so. It’s just a bad look for a fanbase, and especially so for one that people are looking for any reason to hate on right now.

I must be in the minority seeing this as a solid BULLPEN move. Montgomery has pretty much been given the 5th starter role. I mean he has to royally fu** up in spring training to lose that. Anderson is pretty much assuming the Travis Wood role IMO. A lefty out of the pen that if something should happen to one of the starters he is capable of becoming a starter and making spot starts/filling in until said pitcher is healthy. I think with his injury riddled past the Cubs and he himself are likely going in to this assuming he’ll be working out of the pen. Again though, he is a more than capable starter (when healthy) and should Montgomery lose his spot this Spring or sometime during the reg. season or if someone gets hurt. in comes Anderson to fill the hole. It kills two birds with one stone. It gives them potentially a 6th starter/insurance starter whose primary role is likely going to be a left specialist out of the pen…… again, Travis Wood’s role the last 2 years. All for the low price of $3.5M (Travis Wood got $6+M in 2016 and likely won’t be too willing to take a pay cut……. Jason Hammel – a righty – will cost AT LEAST $10M/season). Not only did they get a solid starter (again, when healthy) but I think he’ll be even better since he’ll be coming out of the bullpen. I mean since they acquired Montgomery both Theo and Hoyer have been preaching how they acquired him with the intention to use him as a starter at some point. They did that last year already when they went to a 6 man rotation at the very end of the year. Why all of a sudden people think the plan has changed with this signing is beyond me. Montgomery is still the 5th starter and unless he has a spring in which he posts a crazy high ERA and gets lit up, it’s his spot to lose. Brett Anderson = what Travis Wood has been the last 2 years……. just cheaper…… and possibly better. As a lefty specialist out of the pen he’ll only be tossing a third or two thirds of an inning each appearance. That SHOULD help his durability issues.

That being said, how wise would the Cubs be in taking a pitcher like Brett Anderson, who has an injury history that includes chronic back issues, then stick him in a bullpen with Joe Maddon who wears out his relievers like no other manager in MLB?

Any true Cubs fan you would not be asking this question. Joe Maddon has been a bullpen killer since becoming their manager. Just check out the transaction wire with the number of moves between the parent club and AAA Iowa along with the amount of relievers on the disabled list each season. Cub relievers appear in more games than most other teams and that doesn’t even count the number of times he has them warming up in the pen without entering the contest. He will pull a starting pitcher from a game regardless of the inning. He tends to manage a regular season game like it’s the last game of the World Series…which didn’t exactly work out too well either despite their eventual thrilling victory in Cleveland.

I love Maddon for the way he handles the players in general, for maintaining a loose clubhouse, his trust with the position players and encouraging versatility in the field and the lineup with the exception of his ill-advised decision to bat the pitcher in the #8 hole almost exclusively during his first season. His excessive maneuvering with the pitching staff is another matter. He tends to over-manage that aspect of the game.

When not warming up or starting, Anderson’s contract requires him to be completely immobile in a hyperbaric chamber. Every measure will be taken to prevent him from so much as sneezing since that would likely throw his back out. Between innings of his starts he will be bubble-wrapped in the bench. Instead of a bobble head, the Cubs will feature a Brett Anderson china doll.